|
BACCHANTE
|
(22) |
|
Taken by ENDYMION about 500 miles west of Cape Clear on 25 June 1803 while returning to Brest from San Domingo.
Sold in 1809. |
|
|
- 1803 Capt. Charles DASHWOOD, to the West Indies after escorting home a convoy from Oporto.
On 3 April 1805 he captured the Spanish schooner ELISABETH off Havana. She was armed with 10 guns and carried 47 men. The dispatches she was carrying from the Governor of Pensacola had been thrown overboard before her capture.
Two days later Lieut. James OLIVER, with 13 men, landed near the harbour at Mariel, to the westward of Havanna in Cuba, and successfully stormed a tower defended by an captain and 30 soldiers who kept up a continual musket fire through loopholes during the assault. Three long 24-pounders were mounted 40 feet up on the tower. Mr Almericus DE COURCEY, midshipman, and three others were left to guard the boat while Lieut. OLIVER mounted a ladder into the fort. He then took two of BACCHANTE's boats, the other commanded by Lieut. CAM|BELL, into the harbour and brought out two schooners laden with sugar, again under heavy musket fire. The three French privateers they had hoped to find there had sailed the previous day. - On 14 May the Spanish letter of marque FELIX was captured. Bound for Vera Cruz from Havana with a cargo of coffee and bee's wax, she had only six guns mounted although pierced for ten. Because of her superior sailing qualities she had hoped to break the embargo, the only vessel to try.
- Towards the end of the year Capt. DASHWOOD moved to FRANCHISE and Capt. Randall MACDONNELL took command.
- On 18 November 1805 allowed herself to be chased off the land by a schooner which assumed she was a merchant vessel. When the schooner discovered her mistake, and the roles were reversed, it took seven hours to run alongside and board the Spanish privateer DOS AZARES. She was armed with two 3-pounders and carried 36 men, 3 of whom were badly wounded, and had taken nothing in her 4 days out from Cuba.
- 1806 Capt. James R. DACRES, 01/1806, posted out of the ELK sloop, Jamaica.
- On the night of 29 August 1806 he despatched his boats under Lieut. NORTON to attempt to bring out or destroy a brig and two feluccas from the harbour of Santa Martha. He was assisted by Mr HOWARD, gunner; Messrs. OVERHAND and BIRCH, master's mates; Mr LERICHE, purser; Mr BURNET, carpenter, and Lieut. Pitcher of the marines. They dashed for the vessels under a tremendous fire from the forts, vessels and shore, which was lined with field pieces. They succeeded in bringing out all three, two of them had to be towed, without loss after being under fire for 3 hours.
One felucca, the SAN ANTONIO, was a letter of marque bound for Vera Cruz from San Sebastian, the other, the DESEADO, was a Spanish privateer bound for Santiago de Cuba. - BACCHANTE, with MEDIATOR in company, captured the French national schooner DAUPHIN after a chase of ten hours off Cape Raphael on 14 February 1807. She was armed with one long 12-pounder and two 4-pounders, the later being thrown overboard during the chase. She was returning to San Domingo after a successful cruise. Finding that his prize was well known in the privateer stronghold of Samana, he conceived the idea of sending her in under her former colours with BACCHANTE disguised as her prize and MEDIATOR as a neutral. They got through the intricate navigation of the harbour before the enemy discovered their mistake and, after a heavy carronade of four hours, the fort was carried by storm by the seamen and marines of both ships under the command of Capt. WISE, assisted by Lieuts. BAKER, NORTON and SHAW. They found an American ship and an English schooner, taken as prizes, in the harbour and two French schooners being fitted out as cruisers.
The fort and cannon were destroyed by Lieut. GOULD and they left the place on the 21st. Mr T. M. M'KENZIE, master's mate, and William ACTON, William SNOW and James REID, seamen, from BACCHANTE were all wounded. MEDIATOR had two men killed and 16 wounded. Samana had been the nest from which privateers were fitted out to prey on the shipping around San Domingo and Puerto Rico. - Later in 1807 Capt. Samuel Hood INGLEFIELD commanded BACCHANTE at Jamaica. He assisted in the capture of a privateer and intercepted a Spanish armed vessel.
On 11 May 1808 he took the French national brig GRIFFON, of fourteen 24-pound carronades and two long sixes and with a crew of 105 men, after an action lasting thirty minutes near Cape Antonio in Cuba. The French captain, Jaques Gautier, ran within half a cable of the breakers off the Cape before striking. The enemy had five wounded, BACCHANTE none. GRIFFON, a new vessel, was added to the Royal Navy. - 1808 Capt. William WARD, Jamaica. She was sold the following year.
|
|
|
